I have a friend who does piqua in NJ which is similar to yours.
love the site!..cool movie…
I do a lot of western heavy weapons fighting (close to 20 years now…) and I’m a very one track kinda of guy..so I’ve been very tenative over the years about learning things that run counter to what I’m doing physically with the sword. I don’t fight from an “A” frame stance (aka boxer’s stance) but from a western stance where blows start from circular motions from behind the head…
Pigua Quan has (from what I’ve been shown) a lot of the same circular mechanics I do with the sword. Even the primary stance is very simular to the stance I use …
I’m very intrigued by Pigua Quan.
Pigua: Is it really old or reconstructed?
Can anyone clarify the origins of Pigua?
I’ve heard that it’s actually a fairly modern (20th century) reconstruction. Is that true?
It is possible; wouldn’t surprise me. In most case all styles got revamped in the 20th. century, i.e., forms, theories, etc. 
the last revamp or improvement happened in the late 30’s and early 40’s
when kuo shu people came together. (nanjing kuo shu guan and then moved to chong qing/chung king after japanese invaded shanghai and nanking)
kuo shu guan was disbanded in 1948 due to civil war and lack of money.
- pi gua was always light on feet.
so they adopted tong bei stepping especially tuo la bu, advance the lead foot and drag the rear foot foward.
- pi gua bundled with ba ji.
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some of the basic hand moves were old, they were even recorded in ming’s general qi ji guang’s book.
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http://www.zhuoda.org/arts/92080.html
a brief history and organization of central or nanjing kuo shu guan.